HISTORY AND ORIGINS OF THE NAME "DACORUM"

The Domesday book used the 'hide' as the measurement of land for tax purposes (outside the Danelaw counties).
It was the amount of land required for the upkeep of one household. This was approximately 120 acres but it
varied from region to region.
The Domesday survey made use of divisions of the country called Hundreds which existed before the invasion
of William the Conqueror.

One explanation of their origins is that each contained a hundred hides therefore
a hundred households. Under the Saxon system of tithing one man was responsible for the behaviour of ten
households and represented them at a hundred moot, a court at which the Kings Reeve (an official of high rank)
presided. We still use the expression a moot point about something which is open to discussion. The hundred
known as Danais, of the Danes, was Latinised to Dacorum by 1196.

The Domesday Book records Tring Hundred but this was absorbed into Dacorum by the 16th century when John
Speede produced the first printed map. At this time Dacorum was surrounded by Hitching(en) Hundred and
Broadwater to the north, Ha(e)rtford Hundred to the east and Caisho Hundred to the south-east all in the shire
of Hartfordshire.

In 1644 the Dacorum Hundred was divided into two. The Parish of Hemel Hempstead with Great Gaddesden and
Kings Langley was separated from Berkhamsted and surrounding parishes. Thus today Little Gaddesden and Great
Gaddesden are in different parishes.

This map also spells Hemel Hempstead as Hemsted and Berkhamsted as Barkhamsted and states the most ancient
town is St. Allbans.